Have to be patient with Indian team - Srikkanth

Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of India's selection panel, has described India's winless tour of England as a "bad dream" and said the team needed to move ahead and focus on upcoming series, including the tour to Australia that begins in December

"Australia is the next target," Srikkanth told the Times of India. "We have a couple of home series [against England and West Indies] before that and from those matches we'll try and pick the best possible combination for Australia. We have to make up for the loss in England."

Srikkanth, whose tenure was extended by the BCCI at the AGM on September 19, welcomed the appointment of Mohinder Amarnath to the selection panel as the North Zone representative. "Jimmy [Amarnath] is going to add a lot of value," he said. "We are delighted to have him around us. He comes across as someone who has plenty of cricket experience and that will help us in selection matters."

India were beaten 0-4 in the Test series in England, 0-3 in the five-match ODI series and lost the solitary Twenty20 as well. Srikkanth said the team's performance was the "worst" during his tenure as selector. "It happens and we have to be patient with the team," he said. "We have to take corrective measures to ensure that things fall in place. You can't forget all the good things that happened before the England series.

"We won the World Cup and our cricketers didn't get time to soak in the celebration. Prior to that, we have done well in different conditions. This is a testing time for Indian cricket and we need to try out different things to ensure that we are able to come back with a bang."

Srikkanth said that while England were clearly the "best side" and India were "outplayed in every department", a number of fitness issues had compounded the team's problems. The way the youngsters performed, Srikkanth said, was one of the positives to emerge from the tour.

"In my opinion, the youngsters fought well in the series. All the matches were affected by rain and the D/L method," he said. "Plus there were a few injuries as well. What can someone do if Rohit Sharma breaks his finger off the very first ball he faces? You can't really control injuries. Now we have to move on and the next big challenge is to play to our full strength against England at home."

Absolutely ridiculous. What a joke. A bad dream. Mate it's time you take some responsibility.Indian cricket is a joke. The players did find time to play the stupid 20-20 rubbish. India need to make some hard desicions like the aussies. With Srikanth and Srinivasan at the helm hard to see any changes and tough decisions made.

Arul
on September 22, 2011, 10:28 GMT

Totally true. England is the worst place to play cricket during August and September. We can obviously see how our best team performed in England. Even scientists here don't predict the weather properly. Remember, lot of people questioned his selection before the ODI world cup, how many people praised him after we have won the prize?

Dummy4
on September 22, 2011, 4:54 GMT

If Srikkanth truly believes that India's humiliation in England was nothing more than "a bad dream", then he can prepare himself for many more nightmares to come. Whichever way you spin it (not at all, if you're Harbhajan or Mishra), England's annihilation of India wasn't just a disagreeable blip in the BCCI's masterplan for world domination: it signalled the beginning of the end for India as a serious force in Test cricket. Your next generation of batsmen are clueless against pace or swing, you have no seam bowlers capable of bowling at even 80 mph & even your first-choice spinners are cannon fodder outside the subcontinent. It'll take at least another two or three years before India can even *begin* to hope of competing with the likes of England, Australia & South Africa again; in the meantime, you'll have to content yourselves with fighting for 5th or 6th place in the rankings with Pakistan, the WIndies, New Zealand, Bangladesh & Zimbabwe. Welcome, India, to your brave new world.

Hira
on September 21, 2011, 19:23 GMT

@Adithya Raghunathan - i think your're out of your depth..how on earth will srikkant come good? he failed to see obvious things over the years which is why today we have no set young test batsmen apart from the fab 3. He came up with dodgy selection during the england tour and that was one of many reasons why we lost the test 4-0, this is simply unforgiveable. He needs to depart forthwith and be replaced with ex cricketers for the good of indian cricket. the bcci has enough power to give their players whatever they need to suceed like enough exposure to different conditions, best equipment or whatever. It needs to implement a strict fitness procedure whereby if a centrally contracted player has a duty to keep himself fit. if he cant prove himself fit he wont be allowed to tour and face tough sanctions. in this way they wont be able to make a mockery of indian cricket.

P Subramani
on September 21, 2011, 11:53 GMT

I think the BCCI should use its influence in getting the youngsters who are likely to form the future Indian team like Ishant, Rahane,Raina, Pujara, Kohli,Mukund Ishant and Aaron contracts to play for one or the other counties in England. I feel that will make them truly professional in their approach and fitness. It will also enable them to build their confidence levels.

SUBRAMANIAN
on September 21, 2011, 10:38 GMT

By asking Srikanth the problem will not be solved.The best players have not performed well means what a selecion commitee can do? Moreover we cannot win all the games.It is evident that England have played aggressive cricket.They have the fire to perform and each and every player have performed well.Their conditions also suited for them and same way when they come to India they cannot adopt to our conditions so easily.We must train our players to play in different condition and I am not able to find Fletcher , coach so inspirational like Kristen. I feel Ganguly must be indian coach to inspire the team and he can be true leader.Dhoni is also not aggressive captain like Ganguly. Captain must be emotinal and Ganguly I have seen as the best leader and he can be good coach

Sagir
on September 21, 2011, 9:59 GMT

I think Srikkanth needs to get a bit of perspective about why india lost.. it was on overkill of cricket for the team, myriad commiments, poor planning and poor team selection at times (persisting with injured and out of form players).. the Indian story was a bit similar to what Australia did at home against England, hence lost similarly.. the players need (deserve) a break of a month or so before they undertake any other cricketing commitments and this should be preceded by proper preparation.. a pool of reserve players needs to be identified and the board should risk blooding more youngsters. it was about time some of the senior earned their keep in the side !

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 8:26 GMT

This is a humiliation for indians to have a tour without a single win. We can accept the fact that they lost after giving a fight, but if we see how we performed in Test that was really pathetic.I hope that BCCI does not forget this as a bad dream and takes some concrete steps instead

Just get a bowling unit that can take 20 wickets & you will see things becoming better. The current incumbents - Harbhajan & Amit Mishra look like middle order batsmen who can bowl part-time spin. Time to look for a new spin attack of which there should be 6 to 7 in the list of 30 and 2 in the playing 11.

These stats pertain to I Class only & do not incl. listA, test, ODI, t20I & twenty20.

The best thing is all are in their early 20's & can grow into world-class spinners

Sanjay
on September 24, 2011, 9:35 GMT

Absolutely ridiculous. What a joke. A bad dream. Mate it's time you take some responsibility.Indian cricket is a joke. The players did find time to play the stupid 20-20 rubbish. India need to make some hard desicions like the aussies. With Srikanth and Srinivasan at the helm hard to see any changes and tough decisions made.

Arul
on September 22, 2011, 10:28 GMT

Totally true. England is the worst place to play cricket during August and September. We can obviously see how our best team performed in England. Even scientists here don't predict the weather properly. Remember, lot of people questioned his selection before the ODI world cup, how many people praised him after we have won the prize?

Dummy4
on September 22, 2011, 4:54 GMT

If Srikkanth truly believes that India's humiliation in England was nothing more than "a bad dream", then he can prepare himself for many more nightmares to come. Whichever way you spin it (not at all, if you're Harbhajan or Mishra), England's annihilation of India wasn't just a disagreeable blip in the BCCI's masterplan for world domination: it signalled the beginning of the end for India as a serious force in Test cricket. Your next generation of batsmen are clueless against pace or swing, you have no seam bowlers capable of bowling at even 80 mph & even your first-choice spinners are cannon fodder outside the subcontinent. It'll take at least another two or three years before India can even *begin* to hope of competing with the likes of England, Australia & South Africa again; in the meantime, you'll have to content yourselves with fighting for 5th or 6th place in the rankings with Pakistan, the WIndies, New Zealand, Bangladesh & Zimbabwe. Welcome, India, to your brave new world.

Hira
on September 21, 2011, 19:23 GMT

@Adithya Raghunathan - i think your're out of your depth..how on earth will srikkant come good? he failed to see obvious things over the years which is why today we have no set young test batsmen apart from the fab 3. He came up with dodgy selection during the england tour and that was one of many reasons why we lost the test 4-0, this is simply unforgiveable. He needs to depart forthwith and be replaced with ex cricketers for the good of indian cricket. the bcci has enough power to give their players whatever they need to suceed like enough exposure to different conditions, best equipment or whatever. It needs to implement a strict fitness procedure whereby if a centrally contracted player has a duty to keep himself fit. if he cant prove himself fit he wont be allowed to tour and face tough sanctions. in this way they wont be able to make a mockery of indian cricket.

P Subramani
on September 21, 2011, 11:53 GMT

I think the BCCI should use its influence in getting the youngsters who are likely to form the future Indian team like Ishant, Rahane,Raina, Pujara, Kohli,Mukund Ishant and Aaron contracts to play for one or the other counties in England. I feel that will make them truly professional in their approach and fitness. It will also enable them to build their confidence levels.

SUBRAMANIAN
on September 21, 2011, 10:38 GMT

By asking Srikanth the problem will not be solved.The best players have not performed well means what a selecion commitee can do? Moreover we cannot win all the games.It is evident that England have played aggressive cricket.They have the fire to perform and each and every player have performed well.Their conditions also suited for them and same way when they come to India they cannot adopt to our conditions so easily.We must train our players to play in different condition and I am not able to find Fletcher , coach so inspirational like Kristen. I feel Ganguly must be indian coach to inspire the team and he can be true leader.Dhoni is also not aggressive captain like Ganguly. Captain must be emotinal and Ganguly I have seen as the best leader and he can be good coach

Sagir
on September 21, 2011, 9:59 GMT

I think Srikkanth needs to get a bit of perspective about why india lost.. it was on overkill of cricket for the team, myriad commiments, poor planning and poor team selection at times (persisting with injured and out of form players).. the Indian story was a bit similar to what Australia did at home against England, hence lost similarly.. the players need (deserve) a break of a month or so before they undertake any other cricketing commitments and this should be preceded by proper preparation.. a pool of reserve players needs to be identified and the board should risk blooding more youngsters. it was about time some of the senior earned their keep in the side !

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 8:26 GMT

This is a humiliation for indians to have a tour without a single win. We can accept the fact that they lost after giving a fight, but if we see how we performed in Test that was really pathetic.I hope that BCCI does not forget this as a bad dream and takes some concrete steps instead

Just get a bowling unit that can take 20 wickets & you will see things becoming better. The current incumbents - Harbhajan & Amit Mishra look like middle order batsmen who can bowl part-time spin. Time to look for a new spin attack of which there should be 6 to 7 in the list of 30 and 2 in the playing 11.

These stats pertain to I Class only & do not incl. listA, test, ODI, t20I & twenty20.

The best thing is all are in their early 20's & can grow into world-class spinners

Nagaraju
on September 21, 2011, 7:53 GMT

Dear Srikanth...we will not take this hype about indian team again..same hype given when india tour to england(full strenght)...I am sure india will not dominate like how england did in der home,after playing CL some reason will come out like no rest,contineous cricket bla bla...we are listening same everytime...but india will play better than eng soil( but not like england).....let see in OCTOBER

Kuldeep
on September 21, 2011, 7:37 GMT

Indian cricket would have better without Srikant's reelction as a selector. If you are bad at your job whey are you picked again? They have not addressed the balance of the team. no fast bowler all rounder option. Too many tried ad failed selections again and again.

Najim
on September 21, 2011, 7:37 GMT

Srikanth extended...Irfan will not be in national side..so funny BCCI

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 7:33 GMT

"We won the world cup and the players didn't get time to soak in the celebrations"
Whose fault is that??? IPL's. The entire squad that won the WC should have been given rest. They should have been sent of to some caribbean island to enjoy but instead they were made to played against each other in less than a week. No wonder they failed in ENG. They were disjointed as a team

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 7:33 GMT

Yes there were injuries but what about quality of replacements. Zak had no replacement and the issue lies in the bowling understrength of the Indian bench. tit-n-bits players can be used in ODI's and 20Twenties but test matches would require quality and consistency. PK,Ishant Sharma look good but can not be leaders of the pace attack . There is no 3rd seemer in sight and spin department looks empty . We need bowlers to take 20wickets in Australia coz I am sure batting with maestros would come good there as bowl will not seam as in England. I wish there was a post mortem of the series but sigh board doesn wanna put an enquiry over a mere 'bad dream' ...sad

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 7:23 GMT

i feel first srikanth should resign .... and every year review should be there in bcci
players like irfan pathan is not getting chance ..he is a good player and india is missing a player like him ..

if players like jadeja , vinay kumar , rp singh can make a comeback then why not irfan pathan ...

and bcci is not allowing irfan pathan to play in england county team ..

Naresh
on September 21, 2011, 7:19 GMT

Yes its okay to analyse this debacle constructively. Our main problem was
with the pace attack. Our medium pacers could not change the direction of the games.
It was to one dimensional. We had the same type of bowlers - right armers, bowling
the same type of balls, same speed. We needed a good left arm bowler and I dont
see why Ashish Nehra was not called up after Zaheer. Please select a team with
the right balance. What is been done to strenghten the bench with regards to
fast bowlers?

Chinnappa
on September 21, 2011, 7:16 GMT

Srikanth, you didnt talk about how IPL affected the other international games for India. Why CSK plays so many players from the current team without fail? What is imp for you, whether CSK winning or India winning? Also you didnt talk about scheduling the tournaments for the players, giving time for practice matches, reserving the key players for key series. Talk about this kind of technical details. Don't talk like an astrologer who would say 'we had a bad time, next time would be definitely good'.

bob
on September 21, 2011, 7:15 GMT

Fair enough, at least he admitted that England were the better side, unlike most indian fans blaming the rains, drs and fitness and not looking at the margins of defeats in the test, they are so big that India would have needed their All time 11 to make the series competitive.

Pratyush
on September 21, 2011, 7:13 GMT

Its not Australia that is the next target, the target is not getting beaten 4-0 in Australia! Talk about a peacock burying its head in sand when adversity comes.. We can all give excuses of why things happened, but until we are honest we never move forward.

Padma
on September 21, 2011, 7:11 GMT

Absolutely, one can't controll the injuries.....lets forget the black days of Indian cricket and move along, future is bright......we are there to support. As some one told India tour to England with their C team. We are still belive in our team.

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 7:08 GMT

Well, all that's done is done...we'll just have to wait for the next few series and see if we can move on...these things happen for example England losing to Bangladesh and Ireland in the WC...just because a team's had a horrible run it doesn't mean you write off the future of their cricket...

Sriram
on September 21, 2011, 7:06 GMT

Well Srikanth congrats on keeping your HOT SEAT. BTW, will you ask the likes of Viru, Gauti, Sach, Yuvi, PK, Munaf, Rohit all to play the Challenger Trophy before the Eng series to prove thier fitness. Tell you what, NEVER in India STARS will be asked to prove thier fitness, all above metioned will walk into the XI after a stint of nets and chai at NCA. Good Luck though.

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 6:47 GMT

Tho india lost every game on tour, they casn take away a few things, like how Rahane and Parthiv performed at top of the order and how ravi jadeja played for his 74 and 2-41 in his comeback odi(he wasnt too flash after that game tho) How Raina came back into form for ODI;s and they should now definetely know that raina IS NOT A TEST PLAYER. So there are a few positives, but a lot more negatives for sure

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 6:47 GMT

Tho india lost every game on tour, they casn take away a few things, like how Rahane and Parthiv performed at top of the order and how ravi jadeja played for his 74 and 2-41 in his comeback odi(he wasnt too flash after that game tho) How Raina came back into form for ODI;s and they should now definetely know that raina IS NOT A TEST PLAYER. So there are a few positives, but a lot more negatives for sure

pzd
on September 21, 2011, 6:40 GMT

Pathetic answer from chief selector "What can someone do if Rohit Sharma breaks his finger off the very first ball he faces?" .. If Rohit Sharma had a better technique, he would not have broken his finger.. Select people with good technique & potential rather than performances based on IPL

Chaitanya
on September 21, 2011, 6:15 GMT

There we go - just a bad dream! No structural changes required....no enabling infrastructure needed. As expected, the opportunity for soul searching is going to be wasted. Horrible....just horrendous! Next target Australia? What are you targeting? Another whitewash? Pathetic

Alex
on September 21, 2011, 6:11 GMT

Just find few TALL 100mph bowler. All problem solved

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 6:01 GMT

krish will come good,from starting of the west indies.mistakes wl happen on every human,tats nature

No featured comments at the moment.

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 6:01 GMT

krish will come good,from starting of the west indies.mistakes wl happen on every human,tats nature

Alex
on September 21, 2011, 6:11 GMT

Just find few TALL 100mph bowler. All problem solved

Chaitanya
on September 21, 2011, 6:15 GMT

There we go - just a bad dream! No structural changes required....no enabling infrastructure needed. As expected, the opportunity for soul searching is going to be wasted. Horrible....just horrendous! Next target Australia? What are you targeting? Another whitewash? Pathetic

pzd
on September 21, 2011, 6:40 GMT

Pathetic answer from chief selector "What can someone do if Rohit Sharma breaks his finger off the very first ball he faces?" .. If Rohit Sharma had a better technique, he would not have broken his finger.. Select people with good technique & potential rather than performances based on IPL

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 6:47 GMT

Tho india lost every game on tour, they casn take away a few things, like how Rahane and Parthiv performed at top of the order and how ravi jadeja played for his 74 and 2-41 in his comeback odi(he wasnt too flash after that game tho) How Raina came back into form for ODI;s and they should now definetely know that raina IS NOT A TEST PLAYER. So there are a few positives, but a lot more negatives for sure

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 6:47 GMT

Tho india lost every game on tour, they casn take away a few things, like how Rahane and Parthiv performed at top of the order and how ravi jadeja played for his 74 and 2-41 in his comeback odi(he wasnt too flash after that game tho) How Raina came back into form for ODI;s and they should now definetely know that raina IS NOT A TEST PLAYER. So there are a few positives, but a lot more negatives for sure

Sriram
on September 21, 2011, 7:06 GMT

Well Srikanth congrats on keeping your HOT SEAT. BTW, will you ask the likes of Viru, Gauti, Sach, Yuvi, PK, Munaf, Rohit all to play the Challenger Trophy before the Eng series to prove thier fitness. Tell you what, NEVER in India STARS will be asked to prove thier fitness, all above metioned will walk into the XI after a stint of nets and chai at NCA. Good Luck though.

Dummy4
on September 21, 2011, 7:08 GMT

Well, all that's done is done...we'll just have to wait for the next few series and see if we can move on...these things happen for example England losing to Bangladesh and Ireland in the WC...just because a team's had a horrible run it doesn't mean you write off the future of their cricket...

Padma
on September 21, 2011, 7:11 GMT

Absolutely, one can't controll the injuries.....lets forget the black days of Indian cricket and move along, future is bright......we are there to support. As some one told India tour to England with their C team. We are still belive in our team.

Pratyush
on September 21, 2011, 7:13 GMT

Its not Australia that is the next target, the target is not getting beaten 4-0 in Australia! Talk about a peacock burying its head in sand when adversity comes.. We can all give excuses of why things happened, but until we are honest we never move forward.

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